What are those agencies for?
Gross intelligence failure continues to cause one human tragedy after another. Everyone knows that the Shia community is high on the list of the terrorists. The LeJ has declared that it would continue to target the community all over the country. To turn the attention away from the real source of communal terror, all blame is put on foreign agencies despite everybody knowing that the entire leadership of the anti-Shia terrorist network comprises Pakistanis. They are treated as holy cows and allowed to escape from high security prisons if arrested by mistake. The activities of the sectarians have gone on for decades now. It was a gross failure on the part of the security agencies not to have been able to break the network despite the latest electronic gadgetry at their disposal as well as ground intelligence provided by thousands of sleuths in the field. The nation spends billions of rupees to maintain the IB, ISI and MI. They need to be held accountable for the serious lapse. A community whose forefathers played a leading role in the creation of Pakistan is under existential threat as the agencies look the other way.
Concessions by the federal and Sindh governments to coalition allies have stood in the way of a thorough operation in Karachi. It is unfortunate that during the last five years when action against terrorists was urgently needed, the provincial home department made political appointments in police force, promoted officers facing cases in courts and ordered the release of parole of numerous criminals sentenced for committing heinous crimes. Those in the opposition who made electoral alliances with the banned sectarian networks operating under different names are equally to blame.
The Shia Ulema Council (SUC) has now joined those who have been demanding the deweaponisation of Karachi. Last year the Senate passed an ANP sponsored resolution supporting the measure only to be vetoed in the NA at the MQM’s goading. It was replaced with the ill-conceived and unworkable demand for deweaponising the whole country. Interestingly, the PPP supported both the resolutions so as not to risk annoying any of the two rival coalition partners with only four months left for government’s five-year term to run out.
The SUC has also called on the government to launch a targeted operation against the banned outfits which is a sensible demand. There are other measure too that need to be undertaken to save Karachi and Pakistan. An anti-sectarianism cell concentrating on sectarian issues needs to be created in all intelligence agencies. The information and analyses should be used by a central agency with the best available technical equipment. The CID, FC, and Elite Force should be placed at their disposal for conducting operations.
